I love hunting alone and have no problem walking to/from my stand in the dark. If there's enough moonlight I'll use it; otherwise I like wearing a headlamp. The only things I really worry about is 1) snakes and 2) skunks. I once got trapped in my blind by a skunk noodling his way through the field. Took him nearly 20 minutes to clear the area.

The "scariest" thing that happened to me in the dark was a few years back I was walking into a unit of the public hunting lands near Ladonia (Caddo Grasslands). It was a full moon night and I knew the route so I wasn't using a light. I came upon what looked like a small boulder that stood up when I got 5 feet away. It was a cow! Scared me until I thought I probably freaked her out as much as she freaked me out.

Just carry a bottle of Bayer Asprin and you are good to go.

Not me! I just take my 20 million candle power spot light with me. Between that and beating on an old sauce pan with a wooden spoon I have enough light and make enough noise to keep anything away!

So....it was you who scared the crap out of me. I thought that was some alien walking through the woods.

Been there, done that! Darn flying rattlers will get you.

help, "I can't get up"

I bowhunted a place once that shared a fence with Texas Safari. African lions like to roar just before sunrise. Wondering if one got out will hurry your walk to the treestand.

I've camped all over the place by myself for years, and had only one unsettling experience. That was at Diabolo Dam out on far west Texas where I was spending the last night of a weeklong road trip. I had just crawled into the sack when a really creepy feeling came over me. I had camp broken down and packed in about two minutes flat and I was out a there. I have not camped on top of that dam since then.

I go to the lease these days just about any chance I get. Sometimes I have the place all to myself, sometimes not. If I do have it to myself, I take my time climbing in and out of the blind...a ten foot fall would do little to improve my health. Other than that I stay on my toes for snakes, alone or not.

When I walk to the blind in the dark I don't use a flashlight. I can usually see where the path is so I just take my time and try not to consider the possibility of a lion possibly being in the vicinity. I figure any other critter's going to be trying to get away from me unseen and unheard if possible.

One place I feel as confident as a guy could possibly feel is out in the deserts of the trans-Pecos. On a moonlit night you can stroll around out there and just flat out see like it was daytime. I am the baddest booger out there and completely at ease.

Nope

I love hunting when I'm the only one on the lease, until a shot rings out that sounds like it came from within my lease.

No

nope, at least not in Texas ... I did have the hair stand up on the back of my neck years ago in CO as I was 8-10 miles back in some pretty rough country, spotted a few mulies working their way below me about 40 yards and crossed the ridge I was sitting, then I spotted a large wolf following their same path about 5 minutes later, but never crossed the ridge, mind got to racing that he was stalking me ... never did see him again, but I worked my way along pretty cautiously the remainder of the day.

Not in Texas, we are pretty much the baddest thing in the Texas woods. I woke up sitting against a tree in East Texas and a wolf was looking at me. He got a load of squirrel shot launched at his rump.

I get really scared out in the woods alone, so when I'm camping by myself, I never wear pants because any twig breaks or frog croaks or owl hoots I just poop everywhere.

Better on the ground than my britches.

That will also keep (most) people away.

Paddling out shark baits from the beach in the dark is always "fun". Half a bloody fish in the yak with you 300-500 yards out in the surf…in the dark…sometimes rolling the yak…sometimes if the bait ends up trailing the yak it will get whacked by a hungry gray suit.

Before Kayaks were available to us we would swim the baits out on a boogie board…

Not terrified, but if anyone claims there were not somewhat "scared" they were full of it.

Never been real scared deer hunting in the woods, but I did leave my camper door open and woke up to a raccoon licking my fingers after we a had a crawfish boil. Scared the bejeebers outta me.

Be glad he didn't bite!

i don't but some folks do. Was hunting in NM once, guy walks up on me and ask if i had seen any thing i said no but heard something about an hour ago and fired a couple of "sound shots" in that direction. He left and i never saw him again.

There was someone on here a few years ago that said he got to his ground blind early in the morning when it was still dark and got situated and took a nap while waiting for daybreak. As he was sleeping he woke up to the zipper on his ground blind opening and pulled his sidearm out and some dude took off running and ran straight into a barbed wire fence. In the process he dropped his expensive compound bow and backpack while running away. This was either on his lease or his property where there wasn't suppose to be anyone else hunting in his blond. Now that would get your heart thumping.

I remember that!! If I remember correctly he got some nic0 binds or a flash light too, something like that!

Being in the woods alone in Texas doesn't really bother me. When I'm out at the hunting property alone, however, I keep a 9mm next to the bed when I'm in the house. I figure that's when I'm most likely to encounter trouble.

Went surf fishing when I was a teenager one night with a buddy. There was a phosphorescent algae in the water that lit up when the waves broke. As we waded out, the water around us literally glowed. We weren't out long when my buddy commented that we were lit up pretty good, and any nearby shark would surely find us interesting. We decided cooking hot dogs on the beach was a better idea than fishing that night.

I have had that happen before. A still night can make a shot five miles off seem like it is the blind down the road. But I have had a few times that I am certain a poacher was near-by. A few times while night hunting I have had unidentified vehicles come by at 1:00 or 2:00 am, once I had a real slow one with it's lights off. I wasn't that scared as I had the upper hand, they did not know I was there.
I have had up close and personal experiences with pigs, porcupines, snakes, coyotes and coons. But I think the scariest thing I could ever encounter in the woods is another human, you just can't shoot them and leave them for the buzzards.
I cannot imagine how freaked out I would be after a late hog hunt if someone from the bushes said "squeal like a pig!"

Daytime, no problem. Dark, yea a little, lots of snakes, hogs and varmints on the ranch that I sometimes worry about walking into.